Sally and Gino get Maui'd

I just heard the term Maui'd a few days ago.  I both love it and hate it.  However, it is perfectly apt for this post.

My younger sister (by 15 months), Sally got married on Saturday to a wonderful man from Argentina named Gino.  Everyone in my family is beyond thrilled to have him in our lives.  He treats Sally so well, is a genuine nice guy, and has some seriously mean grilling skills.

I can honestly that their wedding is my most favorite I have ever attended.  The whole thing was incredibly stress free and oozing with joy.  I got to meet family (mom, sister, sister's partner, and cousin) for the first time on a beach in Wailea.  Talk about a low stress environment, especially given the significant language barrier.  Yo hablo Espanol un poquito and Gino's mom speaks nada ingles.

As a non-hug person, I don't know if I will ever fully adjust to the kiss on the cheek greeting.  Other than my siblings and Gino's family, there were several friends in attendance for the wedding.  Besides being incredibly friendly and fun, some were also able to serve as interpreters for those lacking English or Spanish skills.

Sally and Gino got married on the beach of the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Wailea.  There was zero rehearsal.  Sally got her hair and nails done at the Grand Salon.  My sister, Beth, and I joined her about an hour before the ceremony to help with the final touches and finish getting ourselves ready.

I love how Sally and Gino chose a white wedding theme.  We got some great sibling shots before the wedding.  The resort is very fancy or provided some unreal backdrops.

I love my siblings so much.  I also love how great this pic turned out.  Credit goes to my cellphone, taken by my brother-in-law, Chris.

Did I mention the low stress, zero rehearsal.  About 15 minutes before the wedding the guy performing the ceremony showed up with Sally's bouquet and head garland (she had not seen them ahead of time).  My head served as the example so she could choose how to put it on her own head.  I had the honor of fastening it.

Tim had spent the previous few days trying to show us he was no longer "Timmy."  When Sally asked him to be the ring bearer, I about died.  Tim does have experience, even if it was over 30 years ago.  This time he had the added responsibility of being an official witness and signing the marriage certificate.

Practicing his job

One of their friends had a toy microphone and conducted an interview.

10 minutes to showtime.  No fear, just peace.

When we got down to the beach, there was a circle of flowers.  At that point the photographer and musician showed up.  Getting Maui'd is definitely not for someone who likes to be in control.

           Beth and Chris

                              























          Dave and Me

     

Ready for the ceremony to begin

The ukelele-playing musician signaled the start by blowing a conch shell.

My parents did not attend, but asked me to video the wedding.  My phone has limited recording abilities so I had to do it in two parts.

The best part was when Gino didn't know the word, "cherished."

So happy.

Beth, Chris, Tim, Dave, and I decided to crash the swanky resort bar while before heading to the reception.  

The reception was back at their condo in Kihei.   Along with Gino's family and a random couple (who they invited), they were the only ones staying in the complex. The reception happened around the pool.  We ate appetizers, Gino grilled.  The food was great.  The toasts were fun.  One of Gino's friends acted as translator.  I can't convey how really nice his friends were.

Tim noticed the G love S decorations and proceeded to rename them #gloves.

The wedding cake lands in the top two best I've ever had and it only cost them $30.  It is a traditional Hawaiian wedding cake with haupia cream.  Sally decorated it with flowers from a lei from the luau.

After cake was consumed, the reception turned into a pool party.  The cops showed up, flashing their lights, around 11 pm due to a noise complaint.  The music got turned down, but the fun continued.  Seriously, best wedding ever.

Having now experienced a low key Hawaiian wedding, I can't recommend it enough to anyone thinking of getting married.  We love you Sally and Gino.  Thank you for inviting us to share in the wedding festivities.

No Kid Maui Vacation

We took a vacation to Maui.  We left the kids at home.  It was amazing. End of story.

Seriously though, if you ever get the opportunity I highly recommend the kid-free vacation after having kids (you need perspective in order to truly appreciate).  My sister, Sally, and her fiance, Gino, decided to have a destination wedding in Maui.  Gino is wonderful.  The idea of celebrating them with my siblings and no kids was too tempting to pass up.  We did not budget for an unplanned trip to Maui and we happen to already be going to Maui in July (thanks to the generosity of Dave's parents).  Still,  the opportunity was too perfect to pass up.

We rented a condo with my other sister, Beth, and her husband, on the beach in Kihei.  They left behind their kids as well.  My brother, Tim, stayed by himself up in Kaanapali.  Upon arrival it all just seemed too good to be true.  Beth was also excited for the fresh pineapple.

Despite having just spent the day on an airplane, we joined Sally and others on a 1.5 hour drive to the summit of the volcano Haleakala to watch the sundown on solstice.  It was worth it.

I tried my first mate (did I mention Gino is from Argentina?).  It has sort of a burn-y taste to it.  I won points for drinking it without sugar, but failed on the correct cultural way of accepting and finishing the drink.

The rest of our days were filled with snorkeling (I went out twice for a brief minute as it's not really my thing) and getting sunburns despite lots of sunscreen.  I read lots.  Tim, Beth, and Dave lucked out and had a really cool (and safe) encounter with a sea turtle.

We ate yummy food and drank tropical drinks. The boys ate sushi for breakfast every day. Sushi from the grocery store rivals anything in a restaurant on the mainland.  I recommend 808 Grindz Cafe for cheap, yummy, Hawaiian breakfast (Lahaina or Kihei) as well as the Three Bar and Grill in Kihei.

We made sure to get shaved ice multiple times.

I'm not into snow cones or slurpees, but Ululani's is a whole different ball game.  The snowcap topping changed my life.

Instead of rehearsal dinner, we all attended a luau at the Sheraton.  I strongly recommend springing for VIP seating.  Holy cow it is way cooler than sitting in the far back.

We all got matching temporary tribal tattoos at the luau.

While we were living island life, our friend, Beth, watched the kids.  She did a great job.  Robin may have almost done her in.  He is in a not fun hitting, kicking, scratching when frustrated or tired phase. I promise we paid her.

Spending 5 days with my siblings as grownups was so magical and special.  No one fought or got mad.  We just joked, laughed, and had chill adventures.  It was easy.  It was relaxing.  I am so eternally grateful for this experience.  We spent our final night on the patio of our condo, eating wedding leftovers and running laundry.  Chris isn't pictured because he was busy making Moscow Mules.

The Kickoff to Summer

School got out at 10:30 am.  I was out the door by 10:55.  I've never been one for long, awkward goodbyes.  I also was not done packing for our first adventure of the summer.

This year we jumped right into summer with family camp at Camp Gallagher.  The last two years we've gone in August and had perfect weather.  I was worried about going in June, especially when it was pelting rains the previous weekend.  Luckily, the weather was in our favor.  It was a little overcast our first day and it tried to rain, but gave up after about 3 sprinkles.

The sad thing about going in June is that a lot of the families we are used to seeing were going in August.  The good news was we were joined by a few of the regular faces along with new fun faces!  The different mix forced me to branch out a little more and I think that was a good thing.  Linus missed the group of boys he hung with last year, but instead ended up having fun with a friend from school who came.

A highlight for me was seeing a favorite camp person, Jak, for the first time in four years!  I got tear-eyed watching our babies play together.  The lack of electricity meant I had to save my phone battery as much as possible and thus didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.

Gallagher may lack things like flush toilets and electricity, but it makes up for it by its perfect sandy location.  Eileen loves the sand and would just stay in it all day long if she could.

Stand up paddle boards are my favorite part.  Dave and Eileen spent Saturday afternoon sailing.

Superhero Theme!

"Helping" build the campfire

Even sleeping babies can't keep a former counselor down.

As an added treat, Tom O'Loughlin was there to give one of his famous Mariner game updates.

You eat a lot and play hard at camp.  By mid-morning on Saturday Robin was exhausted and asked for a nap.

He slept through lunch.  I managed to read a large chunk of my book and catch a few Zs myself.  We scrounged for food.  Robin was satisfied with breakfast sausage and apple slices.

Chillin' on the porch of Hurricane Ridge, just a boy and a fruit punch mustache.

Did I mention Eileen loved sand? She seriously spent every chance she could like this.

Robin developed a strong aversion to crabs, causing him to avoid the waterfront at all costs.  It was so sad/hilarious as he screamed, "Someone help me!" when a crab less than half an inch wide was near him.

We ended our time with a little Great Blue Heron Challenge.

My only regrets are that I didn't get to do the vertical playpen or spend even more time paddle boarding.

Our last day coincided with Father's Day.  Dave celebrated by getting to opt out of packing up the cabin.  Dave got sick right before camp.  He came to camp armed with prescriptions.  Dave was a good sport even when he didn't feel awesome.  He also used it as an excuse not to lead songs. Too exhausted to do anything, we had dinner out.  We all love this guy.

As a final launch to summer, I agreed to let Linus dye his hair blue.  He hasn't stopped thanking me.

It was the perfect chill, relaxing weekend.  Today Linus learned about how to clean a blue stained bathtub....

Tomorrow

"Oh the sun will come out tomorrow, so you gotta hang on to tomorrow, come what maaaa-y." --Annie

Tomorrow wraps another year of school.  It has been an exhausting year.  A good year, but an exhausting one.  Tomorrow I will wake up, get the kids up and to school, photocopy report cards, file them, and stuff the original in envelopes.  I will take my class to mass and afterwards, I will say goodbye to the group.  Tomorrow summer vacation will begin.

St. Luke is in the process of becoming an IB school.  I've worked hard to embrace and understand the change.  It's meant really spending a lot of time this year creating units, but with documentation like I'm in a masters program.  It's meant being very intentional with my teaching.  It was a lot of work, but I'm so proud of what I accomplished.  Obviously, there is plenty of room to improve and grow, but at the end I saw 6th graders achieving at a level I don't think they even knew they could.

My partner and I did a retreat for the first time.  We took kids to camp.  Today the kids did a cook off competition.  I could not have been more proud of how everyone worked together.  Despite have 22 kids, not one stood around doing nothing.

This year I took on a volunteer opportunity with Prepares, and walked the path of pregnancy and motherhood with a teen mom.  It's been more hours, more stress, more energy than either my husband or I imagined when I first signed on to help.  In the end, I've become friends with a family and fallen in love with a little baby girl.  It has been far from easy, but it's one of things when you know this is something you were meant to do.

Tonight I started reading through a couple of cards I got from students.  I have had an amazing group of supportive parents.  Note: teachers really do love randomly finding flowers on their desks or being brought a latte or just a kind note or email out of the blue.

Maybe it's the exhaustion, but I teared up when I read the card a student gave me.  It was just one sentence.  "Thanks for believing in me."  After the literal blood, sweat, and tears I have poured into this group of kids, this one sentence puts the hard work into perspective.  Middle school is not for the faint of heart.  I teach middle school because I had a 7th grade teacher who believed in me, who made me feel like I mattered.  It means the world to know that I am able to pay that forward just a little bit.

Today I was so exhausted I took an hour long nap after school.  I'm ever so slowly packing for family camp because tomorrow afternoon we are going to Gallagher.  It's a crawl to the finish line, but tomorrow is only a day away.

Edmonds Kind of Day

"It's an Edmonds Kind of Day" is apparently the City of Edmonds' motto.  It really is a picturesque city, like the type of place that you visit and fantasize what it would be like to live there (by there I mean in walking distance of downtown).  While that fantasy is not in the cards for us, we do live nearby and like to take advantage.

Dave and Linus were gone camping again with the boy scouts.  After dragging Eileen and Robin grocery shopping, I remembered it the the weekend for the Edmonds Waterfront Festival.  I had remembered there being some stuff for kids when I went a few years ago and it was free admission for kids, so off we went.

The Waterfront Festival was kind of a bust.  It was mostly stands selling wares and places trying to drum up business. Cutco knives? Expensive ceramic pots?  Free chiropractic screening?  There was a decent variety of food stands.  Seriously lacking was fun stuff for kids.  There was an expensive bungee jumping thing and that was pretty much it.  Some creepy clowns (apparently some people think clowns bring something other than fear) were by the kid area.  Robin backed away and hid behind me when one clown approached.  I had to be brave and not hide behind Eileen.

There was a cool salmon you could go inside.

 I told the kids to look like they were being eaten.

I let the kids choose one thing to eat.  I don't know what I did wrong, but they opted to share a bag of cotton candy versus getting their own ice cream.  What is wrong with them!?!

Leaving the festival, we strolled along the waterfront.  It's pretty great.  Again, you start thinking about how amazing it would be to live super close.  Right by Arnie's Restaurant is public beach access.  There was a ranger on duty for low tide.  There were touch tanks open inside the ranger station but I didn't mention it to the kids.  Eileen and Robin only had eyes for the sandy beach.

I didn't bring a towel, blanket, or sand toys.  None of this deterred them from having fun.  They played for a good hour before I made them leave.   See what I mean by picturesque?  Clear blue sky, ferry boat....

These two could have stayed a lot longer, but all I could think about was my strategy for getting them clean.  There is a spigot at the beach which help a little.  My kids love the beach.  I don't think anything makes them happier.  The Edmonds waterfront is not usually one of our destinations during the summer, but that may need to change.